You beat me to the punch...we must have been typing at the same time *L*. I guess it is a matter of preference on which to use but I also was at Walmart today and got a Dendrobium but it was planted in bark. I had the exact same question and was told that if I preferred to use the bark chips to go ahead and not to remove the moss as it would cause too much stress on the plant. Seems a little odd to use both moss and bark chips together but is it possible to remove the moss?

Linda

In my experience growing phals indoors under lights in winter, they do much better in sphag. I mix the sphag with coarse perlite and diatomite (about 3 parts sphag to one part additives), and it keeps the roots in an airy, humid environment. I tried bark and coconut hust chip mixes, but thought they didn't hold enough moisture and it was harder to know when to water.

I put a layer of white styrofoam pellets in the bottom of the pot, and if you don't have perlite etc to use as additives, you can crumble styrofoam and add that to the sphag to keep it aerated.

If you are growing outside or in a more humid environment, you might find that bark works fine.

I would never grow Dens in sphag. Dens like to be dry. Unless the mix is broken down, why not add some of the old bark to the sphag? B Girl, I don't know what zone you are in, but sphag is fine for Phals if you don't keep them too wet. I like sphag for Phals, but I like it loose and will mix it with something to keep it open. I like CHC but bark and sphag work well.

What is the rush to repot? Order some mix and repot with what you want. You have to live with it for at least a year.

Jane

Linda: I'm with Jane, I would highly recommend against putting a den in sphag. It usually stays too wet for what Dens prefer, moisture-wise. And its not odd at all to mix bark and sphag. Remember, potting mixes are just that, mixtures of various components. I use a mixture of bark and sphag for my phals. For one of my phrags I threw a handfull of potting soil into the mixture to help with moisture retention (should have seen the roots when i looked at it a few months later, growing like gangbusters)

Blossomgirl, if you grow other phals successfully, when you do decide to repot (and I'd recommend doing it when spring comes around) you can just repot it in what your other phals are in. If you don't grow other phals, well this is the time for you to find out what works for you and your conditions, time to experiment! Pick a route and see where it leads you. For a starting point, I'd just suggest the higher the light, the more moisture retentive media you need (high light=using more water), so sphag in high light, bark in med/low light, and a combination of the two in med/high light.

In another post I tried to get across the idea that once you have taken an orchid and potted it is no longer possible to use adjectives like 'wet', 'dry', 'wetter', etc. ALL forms of potting are too wet vs mounting so why worry about 'degrees'. The take-away of this is that one should aim to keep potted orchids as moist as possible vs as dry as possible. Not keeping Dens in sphag is perhaps wise but when one knows that the Den is 'suffering' in the sphag as much or as little as one in bark it prepares the way for this: one should choose a medium that in a pot without any orchid in it will dry in a time period commensurate with the climate or environment AND the amount of time the grower has available for maintenance. For example, in a very dry household environment where the grower is rarely home a bark potting is unwise as it will require frequent watering. This is regardless of what orchids one grows because the drying time of the empty pot of bark varies little from the same pot with orchid. If there is moisture in the sphag when one is ready to water again one should be happy because it meant the 'reservoir' of water did not run dry. In essence we are always growing in S/H when our plants are potted. More information than you wanted to know but I want to attempt to dispell the notion that potting mediums are about what we grow. It really is more about where we grow!

H

Oooh never say never Jane, it could happen to you 1 day :D
Actually dens can grow very well in sphag.moss. I just add some coarse rok and grow in clay pots. With the added rok they dry out evenly, so there's no soaking wet spots in the middle.

I also prefer to grow my phals in sphag moss with added coarse rok (large perlite) They do better for me then the bark mixes. I did not like the overwatering I had to do with them. Got tired of standing at the sink trying my best to water them down properly. The summer months we're just crazy.

The roots on orchids growing in moss is just wonderful.

Best regards,
Gloria

Gloria I am not wrong and you prove my point. You added something to the sphag which opens it up to air. You grow in clay. Perfect! Whether it is bark, rock, CHC, perlite, all help open sphag. The OP was talking about straight sphag for dens. Although it can be done, and I've done it, I would never recommend it for new growers. I wouldn't recommend CHC for Dens either although large chunks will work. I don't use it, I don't like to repot Dens yearly and stick with a rock-type mix.
Most new growers tend to over-water.
The other point, Dens rest during the year. They do their growing, flowering/resting. Phals, with proper light, grow year round. When a plant is in a continuous state of growing, it will use the water. Dens will sit in wet sphag and rot. Phals like a steady moisture because they are always growing.

Frankly, I didn't want to get too technical. There is no rush to repot except in an emergency, buy the proper media, and use what works the best for a particular plant.

It is all subjective and depends on the conditions.A never ending process of adjustment and figuring out what works for you :)
The reason I am writing this...Well, I grow a bunch of phal-type NOID dends in straight sphag, in tiny clay pots. Beautiful roots ;-)
For plastic/bigger pots, however, I go with lava rock - what an extreme :)

In my orchid backyard, sphag has worked the best for phals. All of my phals are either in sphagnum or mounted on tree fern..

Olya

My last post was a little heavy handed. I apologize. I also missed the opportunity to say I agree with Jane. She is the only poster who observed that there is/should be no rush to repot the phal. First, because there is nothing inherently wrong with what it is potted in and second, because likely the phal is stalled for this year or soon will be. It just isn't good practice to put an orchid through the stress of a repot at a time of year when it cannot immediately do something about repairing the inevitable trauma to its roots.

H

"Do not be in a rush to repot that Phal. " Is a statement that i love. Telling newbies to inspect roots and repot into this or that is fraught with danger.

Sitting on the kitchen windowsill is a Phal. that was a table decoration at a wedding two years ago. I have not repotted, inspected the roots etc etc.

It is in bloom and has seventeen flowers. I am going to repot it after i cut the spike down to the base. I have about five months of nice warm temperatures (Southern Hemisphere) for it to recover from this trauma.

Wow, all kinds of ideas.
I just want to point out that I'm not going to re-pot NOW NOW NOW. This little one (she is quite small. Probably a good 6 inches shorter than my others!) is in bloom right now so I'm going to wait. I just didn't know if it was ok to go right from one type of media to another.
I grow my other phals in sphag and it works well for me. Actually, I credit it with curing me of my overwatering problem since it made me pay more attention to how often I was watering! :) But I am interested in trying bark as well..... hmmmmm.....

Thank you Arthur! I don't see how it can be folks need to repot an indoor orchid annually. If culture & media are of good quality, media should last more than a year. It would indicate to me in indoor culture than there is a problem with dry time if media is breaking down that fast. Over-watering would come to mind first ,along with low light and temps. Orchids certainly don't grow fast enough to require an anual repot

It is stressful for any orchid to repot, "pot pull" to peek, see H's post "What you lookin' at". I realise this is a common practice among those getting started with orchids. If you are noticing a change in your plant, then a change of culture is more appropriate proceedure.

Blossom girl if you would like to try bark, maybe better to buy a plant that is already in bark

Clara

There are plenty of phal specialists and hybridizers who discuss *why* phals need to be placed in fresh medium at least yearly, more often for seedlings. This would include Gordon *Culture of the Phalaenopsis* a classic on phal culture and also the owner-hybridizer of Bedford Orchids. There are several others as well.

They don't just declare this, they discuss *why* it is necessary and beneficial.

These people can't be newbies or particularly ignorant and misinformed because they are hybridizing award winning phals, receiving AQ's by the handful, and have grown them for many years, or their books are recommended by such.

These same people claim that offering a phal fresh medium does not stress it or set it back, but instead will be followed by a growth spurt for several months. In fact, some of them even recommend the hideous practice of "pot-pulling" *to* newbies, as a way of convincing newbies that roots are indeed rotten, rather than just telling them so.

Clara, maybe you could check out their ideas of correct and proper culture for phals before declaring with so much certitude that only poor misguided and misinformed "newbies" would do or believe such a thing.

Please notice I didn't use the dreadful term re-pot. I hope that makes it all right for me to offer my observations.

blossom_girl's original question was COULD she move her phal, CURRENTLY in bark, to sphag without stressing it. The answer is yes you can. Putting it into a media you are familar with and have success with, is probably the best thing you can do for your plant.

Brooke

The OP's post suggested repotting the plant NOW because 'its roots are all over the place and it is in a 4" pot.' She also asks if she can repot in sphag because that is all she has handy. That suggests to me that she wanted to repot NOW rather than LATER. The question is followed by Linda's where she asks the same question about a Den.

It seems everyone missed the original question. Emergencies happen and we all have to repot when we have no choice. The OP has a choice and Linda has a choice. They can choose to repot later with the correct media, or repot now. In the case of the Den, I feel straight sphag would be the wrong media.

Mehitabel although I am sure 'hybridizers/specialists' believe repotting in fresh media is the way to go, the average person does not have their 'special' growing environment. I wish I had a greenhouse and I would suspect the OP does not grow in one. So why would anyone want to spend the time, money and energy repotting Phals every year.As Clara suggests, if the media is broken down in one-year, either the grower is using bark in a very moist environment, or over-watering.

Mine are still in the same media for two+ years and spiking up a storm. "If it aint broke....'

Jane

Clara states indoor culture. I would even translate that a step further indicating window sill or sill with supps. If ya read the thread, Howard states, " it's where we grow". Apples to oranges comparisions here.

Authors are greenhouse growers. They take ain't takin' aim at the indoor grower. Different animal. If someone is reading a book written by an expert hybridizer and quoting the advise they are likely not at beginner level and better be practicin' what they preach in like conditions to the author.

It is the misinformed newbie that brings home a big box phal, jumps on the board and may mistakenly extrapolate that a media change is step 1 in proper culture techniques. Seen it many a time. Most root rot doesn't warrent a media change. It warrents a culture change.

Clara doesn't need to give culture 101 lessons in this thread or any other to echo an opinion of other posters. It ain't her job to do that on every post that you attack sitting behind a veil of alleged greenhouse *experts*. You can google phal 101 culture yourself. In doing so, ya won't find anyone that recommends pot pulling and media change as a basic culture technique.
Mike

Hello, Jane, Mike and all the gang. Good to see you. Reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. The winged monkeys, you know.

Mike, thanks for permission to google all I want. I noticed that a number of posters on several threads have been reading all the the books they want, too. What I am looking for is permission to post what I want without constant and open derision from a certain party and her winged monkeys for offering perfectly good information that she happens to disagree with. Do I have that as well?

Jane, I'm not the one giving culture 101 lessons on this thread or any other. Someone else you admire is the one doing that, on every subject, including orchids she admits she doesn't grow. And while you are considering that, don't forget the oncid/mini catt floof with two plants in a tiny 3" pot smaller than a 6-oz coffee cup.

As for specialists, since they have a reputation and a business riding on what they put into print as culture notes on their websites, I think it's safe to assume they have considered who their readers might be and edited accordingly. They don't just write pages of blabber.

Also, Howard Ginsburg grew for years on a windowsill, and then under lights before he got a G/H. So I think he may know a little bit about growing in different conditions.

I'm sorry you think that "every post" of mine is an attack on someone you respect. It appears from my point of view that this is exactly bass-ackwards.

But please feel free to lecture me on my manners and disrespect for my elders and betters at any time. We can all use a reminder at times that no one has more right to be here than anyone else.

I forgot to add that I am really puzzled about how de-potting a rootless phal injures it. I must be missing something somewhere.

I'd like to hear the process by which the damage is produced, if someone knows it, not just a declaration that it's so.

I see all kinds of references to greenhouses being the panacea for orchid growing and you can't apply techniques used in a greenhouse to a windowsill or under light growers.

As a new greenhouse owner, former under light grower, it is easier to control conditions under lights and even on a windowsill. Growing in a greenhouse is very similar to growing outside year round except you can control the water and the heat, somewhat.

Cloudy days, not nice in winter when the temps don't get above 65 inside and you have to turn up the heater to get that high - rainy days when the humidity drips off the ceiling onto your plants and you haven't seen the sun for two days - when do you water the mounts, they are moist when you touch them and it's cloudy but if the sun comes out for one hour, bone dry - some plants don't get watered for over a week when during the summer it was every 3-4 days. No, greenhouses aren't always the magic bullet, just nicer than the outside conditions.

Inside, you control it all. Lights, the duration and the amount. Air circulation. Heat. Humidity, that's tough but also not a killer. The plants should dry out on schedule. If they don't, you have a problem, somewhere, and you have to tweak, peek and change something.

If you don't want to believe a phal can be repotted once a year, that's fine. If you say your phal is happy in the same pot and media for two years, I believe you. I have read the Bedford site plus several other phal specialist sites and I believed it when they said a phal responds to repotting yearly. By doing this, I have phals going from 4" pots to 6" pots in six months. I believed them when they said phal seedlings need to be repotted every three months for maximim growth and for me, it has been true. I believed them when they said to up the light exposure for phal seedlings and for me, it has been true. All of this was accomplished under lights, not in the greenhouse.

No one knows exactly what someone elses growing conditions are and if they are successful or if they are just blowing smoke into dark recesses to purposely lead people astray. I don't think when information is given, it is to mislead but to give an option. Letting everyone share their opinions, tricks and tips, is why this forum was created. If this doesn't fit your area or ability or idea of proper culture, that is fine. This is just what has worked for me, first under lights and hopefully now in a greenhouse.

Please note, all of the above is regarding phals.

Brooke

Jane,
I wasn't meaning to imply you we're wrong. I'm sorry if it came out that way :)

I was just suggesting that sphag moss with addtional coarse rok can give very different results then just using pure sphagnum moss. Some folks can grow in the pure moss, I can't and I know this.

My feeling is that newbie will have to learn how to water, we all do at some point or we risk rot. As a newbie I was growing in sphagnum moss 5 - 6 months into orchids. Watering your plant to the end of the earth doesn't meen you care for it more as alot of new hobbyists may feel. Leaving them alone for periods of time can be the best thing to do for any orchid. Anyone growing orchids can rot them down if you overwater no matter what the media is. It's a learning process.

I know there are alot of folks that do not advise to repot a newly bought orchid -- But I do within time, couple of days sometimes a couple of weeks. Most mixs that I've got any orchids in we're broken down and long overdue to be repotted. Not to mention the creepy crawlers I got as free pets.

Happy growing!

Regards,
Gloria

Peace and harmony for a brief moment. Gone humf

Mehitabel tsk tsk, such unbecoming behavior again. Clara posted first, per usual when the "attack of the winged monkeys" came swooping down on little sister. We are paying attention to whom is drawing first blood. Times of posts are seen by all. No go. You are not the injured party. I associate the user name Mehitabel with chronic antagonsist lately. Howard Arthur Jane shared the same posture to their posts, yet you call Clara out by name. You continue on to attack Jane, myself and other well established growers. Bullyism is not the way to prove your point. Creates bad vibes my Good Lady with skilled, respected growers. You seem to want to leave a history trail of bad karma and arguments that hold no h20. Lordy, let sleeping dogs lie will ya?

I suspect the "Tenor of the Forum" post was centered around the band of modern "Enlightened" growers that *preach and practice* fine culture, not in theory, for themselves. They ain't goin away. Git used to it. Their voice is growing. Make room. They don't have to grow everything to understand general culture priciples of a tribe of orchids from like regions. They have no need to quote Authors. Heck, Howard and Arthur have written books if ya string their posts together. Ya think they grow everything they comment on? That's called experience. They may not currently grow the orchid in question but certainly are highly qualified to answer culture questions. Do you know for a fact they haven't grown it in the past? I know for a fact that one person you mention grows a similar orchid. The advice was right on. You're still askin' how to get a train of phals a mile long. No one is out in nature refreshing the media, cutting off rotten roots. Seen it. Tain't by repotting, depotting and floating 'em in a pot o' goop.

The "enlightened age" growers understand the basic dynamics of orchid culture. They have no need to rely on experts, constant manipulation, disruption or media choices to grow. Last things on their minds. If you haven't heard it before dial up the volume:
"Culture is Culture"
The basic principles are applicable to a number of species. No mystery. This may be hard to understand, only growing phals yourself. Growing one type of orchid does not make an expert.

Ya want to name names, sure I'll play your game. I see Clara posting pics here and in the gallery, illustrating her point. I see Clara sharing her experience in stunning essays, illustrated pictorially. An advanced grower with an ability to teach. One who is unafraid to share mistakes, while making astute observations. She enriches the history that we all leave on this site for the next generation. She earned the right to have an opposing opinion without having to take flack from anyone.

Clara reaches out to this community on a regular basis in the kindest ways I have witnessed on any message board. Wasn't it you who lost a plant and she was there for ya? Wasn't it Howard who was in personal turmoil and she relieved the pressure? Wasn't it Clara who prep'ed us all for the big CFls? Met some members recently? She didn't have to take her precious time to do any of it for us. Luckily she does. If you don't like her enlightened approach, don't read it. Make no mistake, the winged monkeys are flyin' from z-6.

The next time you decide to attack a member of this board you may want to pause. *Reflect* on the gifts that each person contributes to this community. Bad Karma, ya can keep it in your floating goop pot.
Mike

Since you and the other winged monkeys are so well informed and experienced on all aspects of true culture, mike, I hope you will take some of your precious time to reply to my question:

In what way exactly is a rootless phal damaged by removing it from a pot?

Inquiring minds really do want to know.

And BTW, please re-read my post. I didn't ask you to go away, I asked for your permission to post here. Do I have it or not?

Just some observations from an "outsider" Who remembers the "tenor of this forum"post? You all treat each other horribly!!! Everyone has valid points to offer, NO ONE is correct all the time!! What I want to know is what does Blossom have to lose if she does repot after the phal flowers? Her plant is either healthy or not. I don't think a repot will harm the former but may improve the latter.I speak from my own personal experience, I have repotted all my new aquisitions and have not killed a single one, maybe the repot only helped me but the plants have been no worse for the wear.How about repotting your plant AND giving it more light? Works for me. Why argue the definites when there are none? Now I will go back to the tomato forum- much less combative bunch. :)

I wrote my lttle bit above from my perpective as a widowsill grower in non tropical, Sydney, Australia.

November = May, Southern Hemisphere and the conditions in my house then are nothing like those in a glasshouse set-up exclusively for Phalaenopsis. Temps and humidity are too low, so its get them through to spring time with reduced watering and no fiddling.

I do have two glasshouses but believe me no Phal would survive 365 days in either. I've raved on before about the folly of trying to grow everything in one set of growing conditions. So this all comes back to Conditions as stated by Olya in an above post. If you go to the Blossom Girl's my page details all you will find is that she lives in Canada, so how can you give anything other than conservative advice with such thin information?

Mike gee, I find your outward bashing of Mehitabel absolutely reprehinsible. To personalize your attack to someone who has contributed to this forum for over 5 years is ridiculous. Howard, Jane and Clara have made some very worthy contributions also, but just because Mehitabel doesn't always jive with them makes her point of view obsolete? We should all learn from Brooke, my vote for a member of the peace corps,informative and no-frills.

blossom_girl wrote:... plenty of healthy, growing roots and a new spike coming. However, it has roots going CRAZY all over and there is barely any room in the 4" pot left for the ones that are actually IN the media to grow, so I need to repot ... It's planted in bark, but I only have sphag right now. When I repot, do I need to buy a bag of bark or can I just switch it to sphag? Or will that cause too much stress?

Re-pot or not: If you really need to re-pot, then do it later in spring when it's warmer and roots are in active growth, post flowering. Granted, I have a hybrid phal (likely a doritaenopsis) that has been in bloom since February 2007 till now, same spike - 10 months and still going strong - so be prepared for a long wait ;) I'm not sure about the wisdom of repotting phals in spike - I've done it before (on this 10-month bloomer to be exact in July 2007) and repotting did not appear to bother the phal one bit :)

Media: A phal in sphag should have little trouble adjusting to non-sphag in my experience with supermarket bought phals. I use mixed media e.g., 50/50 lava rock/bark. I over-water. Really depends on your watering habit. If you have more than one phal, it might be prudent to keep them all in the same media type so that you don't need to remember water-schedule idiosyncrasies of each individual plant-pot ... a sure way to go insane, for me at least.

Go Local: It is always good to check with your local orchid society for culture tips local to your area. It's likely they know far better than someone who's half a world/zone away! Good luck and don't stress over the phal. alvin

Alvin brings up a good point, something which I've learned too - potting everything of the same plant type (ie phals) in the same media really saves a lot of heart ache!

Just an echo to whichever parties said this - your watering habits and humidity conditions should probably dictate the media you use, rather than the other way around. But in regards to your original question, don't worry about phals going from bark to sphag - I've done sphag to bark and bark to sphag and they don't really care at all...just do it when they're root tips are growing (usually when there is nice summery light / artificial CFL lighting). Whereabouts in Canada are you, fellow canuck? :)

Also, for repotting of phals, I mainly do it if the stem gets too long - ie over time, it loses leaves and it becomes really spindly, so I just sink the entire plant when I repot so I get it nice and low again. I've also repotted randomly, either because the pot broke, or the plant was stalling (aka no reason at all) and nothing has died yet. But these results may not be typical so don't take my word for it! Just realize that these plants are pretty hardy :)

Mehitabel - I don't think there is harm in repotting a rootless phal, since it could probably care less about what media it is in (it has no roots to feel the media). In fact I have repotted a rotten phal previously in bark to sphag(I over watered in winter cause I thought the bark was too dry...in reality the plant was underlit and rotting) and got root growth, although I don't know whether it was because of the change in media (I always have this feeling that moist sphag creates a more humid environment compared to bark...) or the increase in light because it was closer to spring that elicited root growth. The repotting definitely didn't HARM it.

I think it is the blanket advice to 'repot' as if the act of repotting actually does something positive in and of itself. It is my opinion that it might but what is much more definite is that a root rotted phal was/is in need of a change in environment, with or without a concurrent repotting. A repot is vastly easier to accomplish than rigging a light hood, purchasing a space heater, filling humidifiers or working rosary beads. The temptation is to repot and call it good. Too little, too late IMO, but mostly we don't hear back from the poster who has been sent on their way with the sage advice to simply repot. I always like to find out what else the grower intends to do.

H

Assuming the bark is in decent condition (isn't heavy and soggy after watering), the short answer is to leave it alone until after it finishes flowering and starts to grow again - to me that's a no-brainer. You could repot it then with a change if you still want one.

HTH,

John :>)

P.S. Roots going crazy all over isn't necessarily a sign that the plant needs repotting. All of my phals have roots flying every which way. Most of them were repotted within the year. (All are in spike now)

John again

Interesting thread, seems things are getting a little fiesty here. Sadly it is beginning to look and feel like OSF :-(

Not taking sides (some good points from all sides) but answering Mehitabel's question of:
In what way exactly is a rootless phal damaged by removing it from a pot?

It's not the rootless plant that suffers, it's the rooted one that did not need repotted but was pulled to check anyhow.

As far as length of time in the same media:
I grow 40+ phals indoors with pretty good success, I use bark (from about 2-3 year ago), S/H, CHC and spagh. I'll move my phals out of bark and CHC when needed, but I think I have some in those 2 medias that have lasted at least 2 years without needing a repot because of breakdown. I also have some in S/H that have not been repotted in 3-4 years. I get much less time out of my spagh phals, maybe 1 - 1.5 years. My environment is genrally pretty dry, so media staying wet for extended periods is not an issue.

My life is busy enough, if the phals (almost all of my 'kids actually) are doing OK with only being repotted every 2-3 years, great!!! I have time to do other things also.

I have also been told and read many times that when using spagh with phals to wait to water until the spagh is crunchy dry (crunchy on top cold mean some dampness in the lower media?), seems to work for me but goes against one of H's suggestions to make sure they always have some dampness to the spagh????

Bob

I appreciate everyone's advice... I've been lurking around, reading all the posts, but haven't really been responding myself since things seem to have gotten a little heated.
Anyway, I just wanted to say the following:
1. I didn't mean to imply that I'm going to repot RIGHT away. When the flowers are gone I'll think more about when I'm going to do it. I really just wanted to know if it would be ok to go right from one type of media to another. I've never grown in bark before, my other phals are in sphag. Now I see that it should be ok. **Thank you, oh wise orchid gurus**
2. I know aerial roots are normal. I'd just like to get some of them down into the media when I can.
3. I'm new to GW and this thread, along with some of the others I've read, makes me think it would be nice if some of you who have been around a while could read these posts as if you were new. It doesn't make this seem like a very inviting place, really, when everyone is attacking each other because of differing opinions. I didn't even want to respond to messages in this thread which *I* started for fear of causing more upset... Just something to think about :) LOL

I do thank you all for the info!

blossom_girl: Please keep us posted on this your phal. You didn't start any upsets here - so do not worry about that! Differing opinions are bound to exist on any topic under the sun, so just take all information with a huge grain of salt and synthesize it into something that makes sense for your local conditions. Best of luck and don't go away :) alvin

Blossom_Girl: Don't let the wild and rampant nature of the responses to your question scare you away! There is alot of great info here, but it may take awhile to sift through.

It is not always like this (and I happen to think you asked a great questions and I appreciate that you placed the question in the subject line instead of saying something like "Help!") Just read the argueing like one big huge family :o)

The one thing I would "worry" about is when the roots start to actually grow around or are distorted by the plastic pot. I had one that groew around a peice of plastic and then got stuck to it and I eventually had to cut the root away to get the darn thing out! Not so good.

If you are not ready to re-pot or think it can wait, I sometimes take a larger clay pot, throw some perlite or gravel in the bottom, set the smaller plastic pot in it and use sphag on top. This allows for drainage and air circulation and a place for the roots to go while I make up my mind :o)

In general, I am finding with phals that, for the most part, if you are buying them from places like Wal-mart, they are not likely to be some super-crazy sensitive variety and can tolerate either moss or bark, potting or not re-potting so long as, (as I have learned here) they get light and water in the right ratio.

Stick with it and post those pics!!!